Group of interest: Student Peace Council

Junior Chinmay Bakshi is bringing peace to the school one club at a time.

Last year, he started the Student Peace Council to raise awareness about bullying, drug abuse and school shootings within our community; he said he has high hopes for the future of this club.

“We want to raise awareness about these key issues in American schools today,” Bakshi said. “We started as a school club, but now we are making it into a student lead non-profit organization. The reason is because we want to appeal to a larger group of people, and by doing so, we can not only affect people in our school but take a stance to affect students’ lives (not just) throughout Ohio but throughout the United States.”

According to sophomore and member Yogesh Patel, they have made affects here in Mason already.

“We hosted Red Ribbon Week last year and I think we had a big impact,” Patel said. “The message (of the week) was clear; all the props we gave out and all the information impacted and helped out our community and we want to reach that same goal on Peace Day.”

The Student Peace Council is planning a day called Peace Day for Mason. Its hope for the day is to open younger student’s eyes to the affects of society around us.

“We want to create an inspirational video,” Bakshi said. “We want to show a message that you have one life, and you want to live it the best you can, instead of resorting to drugs and other negative influences going on in the media. If we take the right path and stay focused and true to ourselves, we will be successful in our lives.”

This club is aiming to create a positive experience in school, and according to junior Vardhan Avasarala, it is making big strides.

“What I like about this club is two things,” Avasarala said. “First the message that we stand by which is uniting behind the cause to stop gun violence, stop bullying, stop drugs – which are all very prominent issues in our society. Secondly, spreading that message to children is very important because throughout the process it so easy to go wrong with so many negative influences. We’re just trying to better the society, make it a good place to live.”

With a lot of negative influences, Bakshi said he is proud that administration has been influential and helpful throughout this whole process for them.

“I’m really fortunate to get an opportunity in such a great school like Mason with such great administration that supports our ideas, our clubs,” Bakshi said. “I’m glad everyone in Mason is so supportive. I really think the way we are progressing we can influence hundreds of kids to stay on the right path. Even if we can influence one kid, we can be changing someone’s life. I believe we have the potential to do that.”